From Adelphi to the World Cup: How Chris Leonard ’26 Went From the Graduation Stage to a FIFA Stadium

When global soccer fans filed into Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Chris Leonard '26 was on the front lines to ensure their match day went smoothly.

How do you go from the classrooms of Hagedorn Hall straight to the high-octane energy of a World Cup stadium? Just ask Chris Leonard '26.

A marketing major in the Robert B. Willumstad School of Business, Leonard never imagined he'd land on soccer's biggest global stage with FIFA. But looking back at his relentless drive on and off campus, every single piece fits.

On campus, he served as a marketing intern for Adelphi Dining Services and had a seat on the Dining Advisory Board. A dedicated student-athlete, he served as captain of Adelphi's cross country and track and field teams, held an executive board position on the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, and earned both NE10 Academic Honor Roll and USTFCCCA All-Academic distinctions. In May 2026, his campus contributions were recognized with the prestigious Panther Leadership Award in athletics.

Leonard's global credentials took off when he secured an internship in Croatia through Adelphi's business school, managing social media for a regional coffee brand.

That résumé-academic excellence, athletic experience, strong internships and global experience-helped him land his current role as an event ambassador for Kraft Sports + Entertainment, where he stepped into a job as a ticket resolution assistant for the FIFA World Cup.

Working behind the scenes, Leonard managed complex ticketing software issues and resolved fan discrepancies to help Gillette Stadium-which hosted seven matches during the 2026 World Cup-rank number one in fan experience across the United States during the tournament.

Leonard reflected on his time at Adelphi, his World Cup experience and his key advice for current students looking to break into competitive industries.

Q: What did the typical match look like for you at the stadium during the World Cup?

The call time was about five hours before the match started, so the rest of the ticketing staff and I would all meet for rundown of what to expect: who's playing, the kind of reputation of the fans, any issues with the software that we were operating on, and then I went to the ticketing offices I was stationed at, right around the entrance gates to the stadium. We opened about four hours before the match started, and we had an influx of fans from there. It was my job to sort any issues out, de-escalate any tense situations with fans and get them into the game as soon as possible. Our operation closed down around halftime, so at that point, I was able to go into the stadium and watch the rest of the game, which was super cool.

Q: The stadium ranked number one in fan experience in the United States. What specific initiatives contributed to that?

Seeing those rankings every week was a big motivator for the team, to push boundaries and elevate that fan experience. What we really tried to focus on was that these fans are coming from all over the world-so how can we centralize things and try to bring everyone that same positive experience?

Q: Looking back at when you were an Adelphi student, were there any key courses, professors or general experiences that you feel best prepared you for the demands of your industry?

My courses taught me so much about business professionalism and presentation skills, which all play a factor, but I think International Business with Associate Professor Sviatoslav Moskalev, PhD, was crucial for this role. Learning the different cultures in a classroom applied almost directly to this job because I'm speaking with people from Norway, Ghana, every continent, so learning about those different cultures in the classroom beforehand really set me up well to communicate effectively with fans from all over the globe.

And I think without that, I would kind of be focused on our country and what's happening here, but to travel overseas and work with these global operations really taught me a lot about global business.

Q: What college networking helped open doors for you to secure the role that you have now?

Primarily for this role, I was able to utilize my own network, but it was actually Adelphi that helped me close the deal. The business school demanded boardroom-level professionalism and presentation skills from day one, pretty much. By the time I sat down for the interview, I already had that corporate polish they required to prove that I could handle such a massive, high-stakes operational role. The professors at Adelphi place a really big emphasis on that.

Something I learned at Adelphi is that taking those extra 90 seconds to just send that email and say, "Hi, I graduated from Adelphi, and this is who I am and what I'm interested in…"-you're going to get picked out of the crowd. You'd be surprised about how far that will take you.

Q: Were there any strategies you used in creating your résumé or interviewing that helped you stand out?

In the sports industry, your résumé is almost secondary to your relationship-building skills. I think you can have the most qualified candidate on paper, but a company's front office might feel more connected with someone with almost less experience, but more upside and opportunity. I think that's where networking really shines over a résumé because I had my marketing internship with Adelphi and my experiences abroad, and I'm able to beat out a lot of these very qualified candidates.

Q: Is there a key piece of advice for searching for those opportunities?

I think a big thing that students tend to do is just hit the "apply" button on LinkedIn, which I think is a big trap for students nowadays because it's very quick and easy. I think you can really maximize your network by reaching out to those Adelphi alumni who are very well-connected, asking for those 15-minute informational calls, building those genuine relationships before even looking at those kind of jobs because it makes it so much easier to look into a career when you know people, rather than going in fresh.